Railway switch and signal locking apparatus



('No Model.)

0. H. JACKSON. RAILWAY SWITGH AND SIGNAL LOGKING'APPARATU'S.

N0- Z55.998. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

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a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CALEB H. JACKSON, F ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY SWITCH AND SIGNAL LOCKING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,998, dated April 4, 1882.

Application filed January 3, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that L CALEB H. JACKSON, 0t Allegheny,countyofAllegheny,Stateot Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement in Railway Switch and Signal Locking Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichlike letters indicating like parts- Figure 1 is a diagram or plan view, illustrating the manner of applying my present inven-- tion to a double-track junction. Fig.2 is a detached view in side elevation of two electrically-locked switch and signal actuatinglevers. Fig. 3 is a detached view, to an enlarged scale, of that part of the apparatus situated between the lines :0 w and w w of Fig. 2, the left-hand end of the front clip-plate being broken away. Fig. 4 is an edge view of Fig. 3, looking from the left; and Fig. 5 is a top end view of Fig, 3.

For convenience of description I have illustrated my present invention in connection with 2 5 a Saxby & Farmer interlocking apparatus and aRobinson electric track-circuit. Thusin Fig. 1 a system of 'Saxby 85 Farmer interlocking switch and signal levers such as represented in Fig. 2 is arranged in a cabin at A in con venient proximity to the system of switches and signals to be operated, which in this case are applied to or alongadouble track,RR, and branch tracks or sidings R R Suitable connections (not shown in the drawings) are to be provided for actuating home signal 1 of the branch lines by means of lever 1, distant signal 2 by lever 2, home and distant signals 3 and 40f main line to the right of thejunction by levers 3 and 4, home and distant signals 7 and 5 of main line to left ofjunction by levers 7 and 5, and starting-signal 6 by lever 6; also, the switches 9 and 10 may in like manner be operated by levers 9 and 10, and a switch-locking bolt and safety-rail, 8, (see patent 131,788,) may be actuated by lever 8. Preferably the apparatus thus referred to is to be provided with the Saxby 85 Farmer or other suitable interlocking devices, so that the setting of the distant or other predetermined signalshall lock the switches and other signals (so far as may be necessary or desirable) in the proper positions; and in illustrating my present invention I will assume the presence of a Saxby & Farmerinterlocking-inachine,orother machine of substantially likef'unction, so organized that after switch 9 is properly set or adjusted and locked by a suitable locking-bolt at 8, (which is to be done by properly moving levers 9 and 8,) then the home signal 7 may be set to safety by the lever 7, which latter will at the same time work interlocking gear to lock the bolt orswitch,orboth. Thenthelever5isshiftedto set the distant signal at safety, and in doing so it locks the lever 7 of home signal 7; but in such a system thus organized the possibility still remains that after an incoming train has passed the distant signal, and has not reached the home signal, or the station or switch or other poiutto be protected, the operator may, through carelessness or otherwise, reverse the distant signal so passed by and unlock and reverse his home signal or set the signal 7 to danger, and having thus unlocked his switch-shifting apparatus may reverse his switch directly in the face of the approaching train, and at a time too late to prevent danger of disaster.

In order to obviate this danger I have com bined the Robinson closed track-circuit (see Reissue No. 5,958) with a signal-shifting lever in such manner that the short-circuiting ot' the trackcircuit by an approaching train will drop or operate a detent, so as to cause it to engage in some way the signal-shifting lever, and thereby render it impossible, while the train is approaching, to change the home signal or other apparatus (if any) locked thereby.

Such construction of apparatus I have still further improved by so organizing it that the catch-rod ordinarily employed on such apparatus, or on switch or looking-boltlevers, shall be thus locked, and as the catch-rod is often employed to effect preliminary looking or interlocking, or to effect some other desirable function in the working of signals or switches, I thus efi'ectually prevent any and all changes in the setting or adjustment or looking or interlocking of signals or switches in the apparatus, which then should be set and locked after the train has passed beyond the control of the distant signal and before it has passed the point to be protected.

In describing various applications of my invention I will first illustrate its use with the distant-signal lever 5, torso long as this lever is locked it will be impossible to change the setting of the home signal, or ofany other appliances locked directly or indirectly thereby. The lever 5, Figs 2 to 5, is furnished with the catch-rod a, which, in the Saxby & Farmer system, is employed to hold the levers in position when set, as well to effect what is commonly known as preliminary interlocking. By means of any suitable clip, 0, and bolt 0, or other fastening device, I secure to the lever an electro-magnet, e, and prolong the tail end (2 of its armature 0, so that such tail-piece, passing through holes in the clip-plates 0, may come just outside the catch-rod a and have a short range of motion to and from such catchrod. Ashoulder or stop, a, is made on the catch-rod a in such position that when the catch-rod a is down, with its end in a notch of the quadrant q, the tail piece 0 of the armature may, under the action of a spring, 1), swing in just above such stop a. From Fig. 5 it will now be seen that when the electromagnet is excited or magnetized the armature will be drawn to its poles, and the tailpiece 6 will be clear of the stop a, and also that when the electro-magnet is demagnetized the retractile spring I) will cause the tail-piece c to swing in above the stop a, and so by locking the catch-rod a to lock the lever 5, and so long as the devices so remain to prevent all possibility of unlocking and reversing the home signal orswitch or otherwise intertering with or changing adjustments already made.

In order to cause the electromagnet and spring to operate in this way, so as to secure the result above referred to, I connect the poles of the magnet by wires 8 s with the opposite lines of trackrails, 'r 1", and by the usual electric connections from rail to rail extend the circuit so formed to any desired distance, but ordinarily to a point at or beyond the distant or other predetermined signal, 5, and there complete the circuit by the usual wire-connections, s s, to a battery, 5 This gives me what I have above spoken of as the Robinson closed track-circuit, suitable means of insulation having been inserted at 1' r, &c. It will now be seen that so long as there is no train on the section of track thus insulated and electrically connected into a closed circuit the electro-magnet 0 will be excited, so as by depressing its armature to swing the tail-piece 6 clear of the stop a, so thatthe operator may adjust his switches and signals as occasion may require; but having set his switches for the reception of a train approaching on track Rfrom the left, and havingloclted his switch by lever 8 and shifted signals 7 and 5 to safety, he loses all control of the switch as soon as the train or any part of it enters on the track-circuit described, because the wheels and axle, connecting electrically the opposite lines of rails, 1' 7", make a short circuit and cut out the electro-magnet c from battery action. Hence the magnet, being dc magnetized, releases its armature and the spring 1) draws the tail-piece a over the stop a and the lever 5 is locked, and cannot be unlocked by any normal action of the apparatus, or any part thereof, until the train shall have passed entirely off the insulated tracksection. distant signal 5, so as to be no longer under its control, the home signal is automatically locked thereby, as well as the locking bolt and switch, so as to prevent the possibility of changing the home signal or the switch from the proper position which it receives preparatory to the reception of the train,as supposed; and such locking effect is continued as long as may be necessary, according to the length of the insulated track-section, and preferably till the train has come to or passed that point at which its presence renders the movement of the switch otherwise impossible or undesirable.

1 have also illustrated in the drawings the same improvement as applied to switch-lever 10, the switch of which is not furnished with the locking-bolt; and in this use of it 1 have illustrated an arrangement of track-circuits, such that a train approaching irom the right on either It or R will lock the catch-rod of the switch-lever 10 in the manner described. The devices on the switch-lever are the same as already described and operate in the same way. The rail track-circuit formed by the rails r r is insulated at its ends, as at W, from a point at near or back of the distant signal 4 of that track, and a like track-circuit, r 1", is made on the branch R by like means. The rails r and 1 are placed in'eleetrieal connection by wires 00 00 with the rails r W, respectively, the ends of the former remote from the battery 2 being connected with the ends of the latter remote from the electro-magnet on the switch-lever, and the opposite ends of the latter being connected by wires 00 or with the opposite poles of the electro-magnet con lever 10. The battery 2 is also connected with the rails r 0' by wires c 2 It will now be seen that when an approaching train enters either section r W or 1' 1" it makes a short circuit, so as to cut oif the electro-magnet c of the lever 10 from the action of the battery 2, with the result of locking the catch-lever a of lever 10 in the manner and with the result already described with reference to lever 5. Hence here, as before, the switch 10 cannot be shifted after the train shall have passed the distant signal at or 2, as the case may be.

Railroad men sometimes prefer that the distaut signal (say 5, for illustration) should, when at danger, be simply cautionary to an incoming train, so that the train may proceed with caution, but be fully prepared to stop in case the home signal 7 is found to be at danger. In such use the wires s 8 may be connected with the elcctro-magnet on lever 7, as indicated by dotted lines, so that if a train passes a distant signal at danger (under the rules supposed) the signalman will have his signals and switches locked, so as to compel the train to come to a full stop before the Hence after the train has passed the switch is reached; or, still better, the wires 5 .9 may be connected with the electro-magnets of both levers 5 and 7, so that in the case supposed both signals 5 and 7 will be locked by the action of the incoming train, and its rear will also be protected as against a following train.

If the locking of the signals 7 and 5 be deemed unimportant, provided the switch 9is locked, the wires 8 s, Fig. 1, instead of going to an electro-magnet on the signal-lever 5 or 7, may make like connection with a like magnet on the switch-lever 9, or, better still, on the locking-bolt lever S, if such be used, so as to prevent effectually the shifting of the switch while the train or any part thereof occupies any part of the track-circuit. In fact, the apparatus described forlockin g the catch-rod may be applied on electric circuits generally; and as I believe that I am the first to lock or unlock by electrical action the catch-rod of switch or signal or locking-bolt levers, I claim the combination of devices which do that work, without limitation as to whether the. circuitis formed by track-rails wholly or in part, or by wires wholly or in part, or as to how or by what means the circuit is closed or broken, or whether the locking is effected by the making or breaking of the circuit.

The skilled constructer will have no difficulty in so making the connections that the lockin g described may be efl'ected by the closing of a circuit, when so desired.

I also believe that I am the first tocombine a closed track-circuit with the signal-moving lever of an interlocking-machine by an interposed electrically-actuated lockin such manner as that after a train has entered the section the function or functions above described as appertaining to such construction can be attained.

Iclaim herein as my invention- L-"Ihe combination of an electro-magnet and catch-rod of a railway switch, signal,or lock-bolt lever with reference to the locking and unlocking of the latter by the former, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a track-circuit, a switch, signal, or bolt moving lever, a catchrod, and an electro-magnet arranged to lock and unlock the catch-rod, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with the signal-moving lever of an interlocking-machine, anormallyclosed track-circuit and an interposed electrically-actuated lock suitably arranged for the locking of the lever on the short-circuiting of the track-circuit, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with a switch-shifting lever, 10, an electro-magnct and lock, and a combined track and wire circuit, It R a; as, which shall include sections of two tracks, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination witha closed track-circuit, a home and distant signal, the levers for operating them, and an electrically-actuated lock on each lever, when the electro-magnets of both locks are actuated at the same time by the same battery, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CALEB H. JACKSON.

Witnesses:

It. H. WHITTLEsEY, GEORGE H. UI-IRIS'IY. 

